Stuck In The Middle With You
by The Forgotten Nobody
Summary: This time, Barry really does flush because he notices that there aren't three beds in this room. There's not even two. There's just one double. One. [Established Coldwave, pre-coldflashwave]


_This was written in response to a prompt from bashfulstrawbrry on tumblr :)_

* * *

"Thanks for understanding Barry," Mrs Collin adds as she passes him his key to the hotel room.

"Um, that's okay," Barry replies, bemused. He figures she must be talking about the whole rooming on his own situation. It's no secret that apart from Iris, Barry doesn't really have any close friends, and since she isn't on this trip to DC he'd ended up with a room to himself.

Barry follows the last of the students up the stairs and heads down the corridor to find his room. It actually might be kind of nice, rooming alone. Not that he doesn't love living with Iris and Joe but he's never had complete privacy before…

"What, Collins want us already or somethin'"

Barry freezes, his mouth open in shock.

"What are you doing in my room?"

"Your room? I think you'll find this is ours."

Despite the fact Barry wouldn't have been able to get in the room if he had the wrong key, he still checks it nonetheless and yep, he's definitely in the right place. Suddenly, Mrs Collin's words make more sense. Now that he thinks about it, he's pretty sure she tried telling him something on the place while he'd been engrossed in his book.

That something was likely that he no longer had a room to himself and was instead sharing it with two other students. And if that wasn't enough, those two students were Leonard Snart and Mick Rory, aka the two jocks who Barry has a very, very inconvenient crush on and probably didn't even know of his existence until the moment he barged in on them.

"Uh, I…I think I'm sharing with you guys," Barry says once his vocal cords decide to work again.

"Really now?" Len says with a slight tilt of his lips and raised eyebrow. "Well, I suppose it makes sense they'd want a sitter for us. Then again, it could be worse. You're much more preferable than Mr. Smith."

Barry is torn between flushing and wincing. All the students knew there was something off about Mr. Smith, with his shifty eyes and propensity for 'one on one chats'.

"Um, yeah, so I'll just…um…."

This time, Barry really does flush because he notices that there aren't three beds in this room. There's not even two. There's just one double.

One.

"We said we'd share. Didn't factor you in," Mick explains and Barry doesn't know what to say. He could always go to Miss Collin and ask if there was another room he could use, maybe an extra cot or something the hotel could provide…

"We'll figure it out later," Len says nonchalantly. "Drop your stuff, Barry, and let's go. I hear there's bowling to be played and you're on our team now. After all, we ought to get to know each other now, don't you think?"

Barry gulps but does as instructed, trying not to spontaneously combust when Len throws an arm over his shoulder and leads him out of the room. All the while, one thought keeps running through his head.

Len knows his name.

* * *

Bowling turns out to be a lot of fun. Barry is invited to join Len and Mick's team, along with their other friends Hartley and Shawna, people Barry had always been a bit terrified of getting too close to but are actually pretty nice. They have a cheap meal out afterwards and Barry ends up having such a good time that he forgets the whole bed issue…until they reach the room again, that is, and the problem is inescapable. However, to Barry's surprise, there isn't much discussion about it apart from Mick stating, 'bed's big enough for three' and the pair getting ready for bed. They start getting undressed there and then and so, before he can give him away more than he likely already has, Barry squeaks that he'll use the bathroom first. He slams the door shut and tries to calm his racing heart.

Then he realises another problem. He's brought his Iron Man PJs.

Barry swallows a cry of despair. Why had he brought them? He has plenty of normal PJs he could have brought! Barry briefly entertains the idea of just sleeping in his underwear before he recognises that would be much, much worse.

Iron Man it is.

After brushing his teeth, Barry reluctantly leaves the safety of the bathroom and prepares himself for laughter. However, instead, all he gets is Len's piercing stare and a declaration of, 'Black Widow's my favourite' before he claims the bathroom for himself. Mick's already in bed and when Barry ends up just standing there unsurely, he snorts.

"Not gonna bite you Scarlet, get in already."

"Uh, yep. Okay. Sure." Staying faithful to his new nickname, Barry's cheeks heat once more as he hesitantly slides under the covers. When Len comes back, he realises the next problem in this never-ending list.

"Uh, I can move if you'd rather, you know, um…"

Len smirks. "You're fine where you are, Barry. Just watch out, Mick can be a kicker."

"Yeah, well, you snore," Mick grumbles and Len spares a moment to glare at his boyfriend before he turns out the light and joins them in bed. And then, that's that. Barry is sharing a bed with his two crushes, right in the middle of them.

What could possibly go wrong?

Despite Barry's worry, he ends up falling asleep relatively quickly, even after getting kicked in the shin by Mick and discovering that Len really does snore louder than a chainsaw. He wouldn't be Barry, however, if _something_ didn't ruin this.

* * *

"Hey, Barry, wake up. You're having a nightmare. Barry!"

Barry jerks awake, his torso ramrod straight and his heart thundering in his chest. The remnants of the nightmare might already be vanishing but he can still remember it in perfect clarity. It's the same one he always has. His mother's murder. Figures he'd have it again, in an unfamiliar bed. Damn it, he should have prepared for that!

"Hey, you alright?"

Barry flinches at the touch of a hand on his shoulder, immediately regretting the action. He blinks a few times, getting his bearings, and realises that both Len and Mick are awake and watching him with concern.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry I…I have nightmares sometimes, especially when I'm in an unfamiliar place and I'm really sorry I woke you both up. I can…I can go sleep on the sofa, or the floor, or I can ask if I can go in a different room or-"

"Woah there Scarlet, take a breath, a long one, that's it. We're not kicking you out, are we Mick?"

Barry turns to see Mick shaking his head.

"Nah, we're not asses. You, uh, want to talk about it or somethin'?"

"No, it's okay…just, a nightmare. One I have a lot."

Although, despite how often he has had it, Barry's heart still refuses to calm down. In the shadows, he sees him, the man, the man dressed in yellow who had, who'd…

"Come back Barry, you're okay," Len says, drawing Barry back to the present. "You wanna try and get back to sleep or…"

Barry's not sure he could sleep again, honestly, but he doesn't want to keep Len and Mick up any longer. This is already embarrassing enough.

"Yeah. Sleep…sleep sounds good. Uh…thanks."

"No problem," Mick says. Len echoes him and slowly, they return to their original positions. However, there's a restlessness beneath Barry's skin now, one that he tries to ignore but utterly fails at doing. He can't help shifting around, trying to get comfortable. He's sure he's still disturbing the other two but he can't seem to stop. Maybe if-

An arm gets thrown around his chest nearly at the same time as a leg presses up against his own.

"This okay?" He hears Len mutter, Mick asking a similar question with a grunt and it takes Barry a second to choke a stuttered, 'Y-yeah.'

"Good. We've got you. Get some rest, Barry."

And within seconds, he does.


End file.
